Ciao from Italy! – 12013

We’re here in Torino getting all of our things packed up and settled to head to Venice for sightseeing and then our trip home!

We had an early morning this morning; wake up was at 5:30 and we left the campground in Fenestrelle and were on a bus by 8:00. We arrived at the metro station in Torino at Porta Nuova around 11 and took the metro to the Powell’s apartment. After lunch, we split up into groups; getting all of our TMI gear together and packed up and taking turns heading to the local “automatic LAVA shop” to get our laundry all nice and clean for Venice. All of our male team members: Justin Dowers, Deason Pierce, Ashton Will, Jonathan Chei, and Andrew Simonton, received haircuts, too. As we have to sit in the lavanderia and wait on our clothes, some of the team members elected to relax and kick their feet up on the machines and watch the clothes spin ’round and ’round… (Allison Parker). 🙂 I’m with the second laundry group now, Ashton Will, Karly Anderson, and Ahnie Loncle took a break to walk across the street to get Gelato; and I’m sitting here with Justin Dowers, Ronnie Bosworth, and Ashley Mitchell as they patiently await their turn to get their Gelato.

Back at the apartment, Sarah Melville, Sarah Powell, Jonathan Chei, Katie Kim, and Madisen Sturgeon are finishing up their packing and having a good time relaxing.

Tonight will be a fun night for our team, although they aren’t aware of it just yet. We’re doing our “banquet night” tonight; we are going to make lasagna and fresh salad with fruit, and we got sparkling water and pineapple juice. We also purchased fresh pastries as a dessert. The team has really enjoyed getting to eat the Italian cuisine and has definitely enjoyed the cultural attitude and their focus on the importance of delicious food! Our team has eaten very well this summer, indeed! Ashton Will and Ashley Mitchell are on KP today; they’ve been a huge help in serving and cleaning up after meals.

Last night at our group devos, we wrapped up our team member devotions with Andrew Simonton and Caleb Powell. It was another great night of fellowship and worship.

Dayzee Card –

Hey everybody!

Our trip has brought us back to Torino and is coming to a close. Everything that has led up to this has been challenging but inspirational. Bootcamp first taught us everything we need to know and taught us how to become a team. After that was Christ is the Answer. It really opened my eyes to see that all you really need to be happy is God. They helped us start our evangelism. Then we started hiking. Hiking up a mountain with about 40 pounds isn’t easy, but being on the top of the mountain looking at where you started makes it worth it. Now after many campgrounds and bus rides we are finally near the end. It has been a fun adventure, but all good things must come to an end, unfortunately. I am so glad that I took a leap of faith and signed up for this team.

Hi, I’m Maddie Sturgeon and I am going to tell you about my testimony about being with Teen Missions. When I first got to Florida, it was very hard. Being with twenty-one other people at times and being sweaty and bitten by bugs was not my type of summer. The more I went to God and the more I praised him, the more boot camp got easier. Two weeks flew by and it was time to fly to Italy. Italy changed my life. I learned to be more thankful for what I have. I’ve learned to be nicer and to work with people I wouldn’t have been able to have worked with before. We praised God every day all day and I loved it. Teen Missions changed my life, and I am so glad I got to come to Teen Missions and I got to go on the Italy team!